BlueLabs is an analytics, data, and technology company formed by senior members of the Obama for America analytics team. Using innovations in big data technology and individual-level modeling, we empower organizations to contact the right voters, solicit the best donors, and target services to the citizens and beneficiaries who need them most.

Abdul Sheikhnureldin

​Abdul is an intern at BlueLabs. A D.C. area native and future data scientist, Abdul is currently a sophomore at The George Washington University, where he studies Computer Science and Political Science. He has a passion for studying data on race, inequality, and injustices in the criminal justice system. Originally from Sudan, Abdul is fluent in Arabic and can tell you about African cultures as well as political affairs in Africa. When he is not analyzing data, you can probably find him analyzing the latest anime series.

Amir Stepak

Amir focuses on identifying new strategic opportunities and markets for BlueLabs’ products and services. Before joining BlueLabs, he served as an analytics consultant for Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee, a lecturer at the George Washington University, and a congressional aide. He is completing his PhD in Political Science at the George Washington University and spends his free time trying to tame a toddler and pretending to exercise.​

Ana Rocca

​Ana Rocca is a statistical modeling consultant at BlueLabs. She served as a Statistical Modeling Analyst for the 2012 Obama campaign, where she created statistical models that guided the campaign’s registration, support, and persuasion efforts. Prior to working on the Obama campaign, she was an Associate Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Ana is currently finishing her PhD in Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. She’s a great guide to the best Taquerias in San Francisco.

Anatole Jenkins

​Anatole Jenkins is a native of Washington, DC with a passion for progressive politics and empowerment campaigning. Having began his political career in 2010 as a fellow with the DNC, in 2011 Anatole headed West to organize minority communities in Nevada for President Obama’s reelection campaign. With a background in political grassroots organizing, Anatole returned to the East Coast and served as the Maryland State Coordinator and Deputy National Regional Director for Organizing for Action between 2013 and 2014. Prior to joining Blue Labs, he served as the Coordinated Campaign Field Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party during the 2014 midterm elections, working to elect Democrats up and down the ticket. Anatole studied Political Science at the Catholic University of America. He is an avid reader and world explorer.

Asaf Reich

​Asaf has long been passionate about math, and probably spent too much time in high school scribbling equations for fluid dynamics models. After being obsessed with studying math and doing research in college while following politics on the side, he was pleased to realize he could use statistics to tangibly help cool organizations and campaigns succeed in the real world. In his free time he marathons TV shows and talks about urban planning.

Becca Siegel

​Becca began working on political campaigns in 2008. Between presidential and senate races, she spent time at the Department of the Interior and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, finished high school, joined a bluegrass band, and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in East Asian History. In 2014, she served as Deputy Data Director for Battleground Texas and Wendy Davis for Governor, so she is excited to trade hot Texas summers for hot DC summers. A native Coloradan, Becca appropriately loves hiking, biking, climbing, skiing and arid climates.

Brandon Thaler

​Originally from Ocean City, MD, Brandon is a graduate of American University where he studied Political Science and International Relations. He has interned for House Democratic Leadership and the White House but, he is most proud of his first campaign - an online effort to save Ocean City’s wooden boardwalk. Brandon is a die-hard New York Yankees fan and enjoys spending weekends at the beach.

Brendan Cavanagh

​Brendan has worked on electoral and issue campaigns in the United States, Australia and Europe non-stop since 2003, giving him hands on experience using data to reach goals more efficiently and effectively. He was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, where he earned honors degrees in political science and law from the University of Sydney. In the rare moments he isn’t working, Brendan can usually be found reading a good book, binge-watching shows on Netflix, or hiking in the great outdoors.

Celeste Abou Negm

​Celeste is the Operations Manager at BlueLabs. Prior to joining the company, Celeste served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Southwestern Ethiopia and worked on several merger investigations as a paralegal at the US Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. Celeste graduated from Swarthmore College where she majored in Economics. Celeste is an avid traveler and enjoys painting.

Chelsea Zhang

​After growing up in the Maryland suburbs of DC and living all over the country, Chelsea is excited to return to this city and rejoin her talented coworkers from the Obama 2012 campaign. She enjoys worrying about how to build scalable, fault-tolerant systems in a constantly evolving landscape of software needs and technologies. She can often be found biking, running, eating out and plotting her next trip to Mexico.

Chris Jordan

​Chris Jordan is an engineer at BlueLabs. After graduating in Economics from the University of Maryland, he worked as an analyst for the AFL-CIO, an engineering firm, and a political non-profit. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, brewing, lifting heavy things, and various games of skill and chance.

Chris Wegrzyn

Chris Wegrzyn is a leading practitioner in the application of analytics and big data technology to political campaigns. As a cofounder of BlueLabs, he hopes to bring this new technology to other important causes and challenging problems. From his earliest days with the Obama campaign in 2007, he began formulating a vision for the role of emerging data and analytics technologies in the campaign. As the Director of Data Architecture for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) between 2011 and 2013, he realized that vision. He brought a cutting-edge new analytics technology platform to the DNC and led the Analytics Technology team on the Obama re-election campaign. In little more than a year, his team integrated data from every corner of the campaign into a central repository; built tools to analyze, manipulate, and explore the campaign’s massive database; and developed technology to support the most sophisticated analytics operation ever assembled on a campaign.

Clara Fried

​Clara is an Analyst at BlueLabs. Originally from upstate New York, she escaped the east coast for four years while at Pomona College in southern California. She joins BlueLabs after spending two years working at the Federal Reserve Board in DC. In her spare time, she enjoys running, cooking, and trying new foods.

Colin Fleming

​Born and raised in the great state of Michigan, Colin is a Client Services Engineer at BlueLabs. Most recently, he was a developer at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where he was embedded within the Digital division. In his spare time, he serves on the board of a reproductive justice organization. His favorite ruby method is eval().

Courtney Eimerman-Wallace

​Courtney is a Colorado native with an eye for detail and a passion for social good. Before joining BlueLabs, Courtney spent time working in both the public and private sector supporting network infrastructure stability and building web applications to support various campaign efforts. In her spare time she is an avid winemaker and crossfit enthusiast.

Curtis Morales

Curtis builds applications for data integration, analysis, and visualization for BlueLabs. During the Obama 2012 campaign, he was the lead developer on Airwolf, a tool for sending microtargeted emails to voters triggered by actions in the field. Before joining the campaign, he developed a system for tracking student performance data at a medical school. Curtis loves ancient languages and Russian literature. He competed on Jeopardy! in 2013.

Daniel Porter

Dan is a Partner and co-founding member of BlueLabs. He is an expert at building individual level predictive models that leverage the best available data to guide organizations’ resource allocation and guide program implementation. Dan served as the Director of Statistical Modeling of the Obama 2012 campaign. His team developed individual level statistical models that were used throughout the campaign for fundraising, media buying and state strategy. Dan is an industry recognized expert in the emerging field of persuasion (uplift) modeling and is a frequent presenter on this subject at conferences such as Predictive Analytics World. Outside of (and sometimes inside of) work, he’s usually checking Yankees’ stats or animatedly likening events of the week to his favorite Seinfeld episodes.

Elan Kriegel

Elan thinks math is cool—not because being good at it always meant he had a date on Saturday nights, but because he believes math can help address all sorts of problems, including winning elections, distributing international food aid, reducing prison recidivism and making healthcare more effective. Before joining BlueLabs, Elan was the Battleground States Analytics Director for Obama for America—a position he attained by delivering pizzas, reporting afternoon traffic on the 8’s, producing sports and news shows… and building statistical models for the DNC (in that order). He’s had the honor of playing NCAA Division III football at Franklin & Marshall College (150lbs!) and watching NCAA Division I football at the University of Wisconsin, where he got his BS in Mathematics and Anthropology. Elan received his MA in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences from Columbia University.

Erek Dyskant

Erek is passionate about crowdsourcing data analysis and collection, enabling organizations to become more data-driven from the bottom up. Before co-founding BlueLabs, he was the Tech Lead for Geospatial Analytics at Obama for America, where his team conceived and built a mapping system used by field organizers to choose locations where volunteers were needed most. Between election cycles he worked in the field for a global health NGO, where he helped build systems to collect data from the NGO’s medical clinics. Ask him about the character and history of neighborhoods in DC.

Erin Hartman

​Erin leads BlueLabs polling operation. Erin develops new statistical approaches to help organizations use data to make better decisions. Prior to co-founding BlueLabs, she served as chief survey methodologist in the Obama for America analytics department, managing the campaign’s internal polling operation, which was regarded as one of the largest and most accurate in American politics. Erin holds a Masters in Statistics and a PhD in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. In her free time, Erin is either rock climbing, biking around DC, or on a quest for a grocery store with an adequate variety of tomatoes.

Harrison Kreisberg

After attaining a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in Economics and International Relations, Harrison joined the DNC as an Elections Analyst, perhaps unaware that many of his new colleagues would shadow him as he went first to the Obama campaign as a Battleground States Analyst responsible for the Western region and later to BlueLabs. Time spent growing up in Canada fostered his passion for playing and watching hockey, and a steady flow of moose and maple syrup jokes from his peers.

Iris Michelle Delgado

​Iris cut her political teeth early by organizing volunteers in the mayoral and city council elections in her hometown of Edison, NJ. Since graduating from Cornell University in 2009, she’s worked on a number of local, statewide and national elections in 10 different states. As a Client Solutions Manager, Iris uses her extensive knowledge of field operations to identify opportunities to use technology to better reach communities - and to put out the occasional fire when necessary. A believer in the church of baseball (go Yankees!), you’ll probably find Iris trading barbs with Boston fans. Otherwise, chances are she has her nose in a new book or is planning her next adventure across the world.

James Booth

​James is an econometrician turned progressive campaigner. He is equally passionate about communicating political values, organizing campaigns, and running field experiments. Before joining BlueLabs, James worked for the Australian Labor Party. He was most recently an adviser in the Office of the Premier of South Australia.

James has honors degrees in law and economics from the Australian National University. Outside of work, he is usually found brewing coffee and trying to learn the rules of baseball and football. He patiently awaits his call-up as opening batsman and captain of the Australian cricket team.

Jimmy Li

​Jimmy grew up in the quiet (but not as boring as you would think!) suburbs of St. Louis, MO. He does software engineering for Blue Labs, but discovered engineering relatively late in life. After studying neurobiology in college, he was working through a J.D. at Yale when he first saw the (programming) light. Before joining Blue Labs, he went through Hacker School, worked as a web developer at Pivotal Labs, and was an early engineer at Codecademy. In his free time, Jimmy enjoys hiking and running, having fun while getting crushed at pub trivia, and playing squash.

Joe Arasin

​Joe is an analytics engineer at BlueLabs. His focus is on making analytics accessible through visualization and building tools that promote curiosity and exploration of data sets. Prior to joining BlueLabs, Joe was a Digital Analyst at Obama for America, where he focused on e-mail performance and text analytics. Joe received a BS in Computer Science and MS in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. Outside of work, Joe can often be found West Coast Swing dancing, or conducting a search for the perfect espresso.

Kat Atwater

​Kat is a Colorado native, who began her political career in Iowa, took her passion across the pond to London, and has now returned to DC to join the all-star team at Blue Labs. With a background in political finance and operations, Kat served as the PAC Director and National Campaign Operations Director for SEIU between 2009 and 2012. Prior to joining Blue Labs, Kat received her Master’s from the London School of Economics and worked with PoliOps to develop data tools for political campaigns and organizations. Kat is an avid hiker and avocado enthusiast.

Kate Dahl

​Kate is a native of Washington—the one with Congressional representation—and a proud graduate of Bryn Mawr College. Prior to joining BlueLabs, Kate spent time at Enroll America as the National Reporting Director, helping measure and analyze the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. She also worked in Pennsylvania in 2012 as Deputy Data Director for the Obama reelection campaign. Kate enjoys cooking and eating anything doused in condiments. She also likes to complain about how humid DC is (even though she secretly loves living here).

Leo Liu

​​Leo is an Analyst. At BlueLabs, he gets to combine his two biggest passions: data and social good. Before joining BlueLabs, he went to Wesleyan University, where he studied Government and conducted political science research on campaign advertising, civil conflicts around the world, and democratization.

Lindsey Schuh Cortes

​Lindsey is a small town girl with a big time passion for politics, advocacy, and making the world a better place for her 3-year old son to grow up. As Chief Operations Officer for BlueLabs, she is charged with ensuring the firm is the effective, results-driven powerhouse it is meant to be – and for helping integrate the Obama data “magic” this team is known for more deeply into the progressive movement. She joins BlueLabs after serving most recently as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), where she aligned resources inside and outside of the union to build state-based infrastructure to win key state battles and expand civic participation. During her tenure at the America’s largest and fastest-growing labor union, she also held the position of PAC Director, managing the nation’s largest federal PAC, and Deputy National Political Director, overseeing operations and a more than $50 million annual budget for SEIU’s Political Department. Lindsey hails from North Dakota and is a professed fanatic about The Godfather trilogy.

Matthew Stafford

​With a degree in Physics from Penn State and his master’s in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins, Matthew comes to BlueLabs by way of the defense industry where he worked as an embedded software developer on a number of satellite communication products and mobile devices. Outside of the office he is a competitive powerlifter, reformed rugger and (cheap) bourbon aficionado.

Michael Futch

​Michael is a Senior Modeling Analyst at BlueLabs. He worked as a Statistical Modeling Analyst for the 2012 Obama campaign where he built models of voter support, turnout, early voting, and event attendance. Before joining the campaign, Michael worked as an economist at the Treasury Department and as an independent consultant building models of voter support for a ballot proposition in California and predictive models of asset poverty in the United States for the Center for Enterprise Development. While working at BlueLabs he is preparing to defend his dissertation in economics from the University of California at San Diego where he wrote about information technology in Rwanda, urban infrastructure externalities in Los Angeles, and the impacts of coal production on student health in Chicago. On his own time you can find him loading up his bicycle with camping gear and trying to get lost in the woods… and enjoying sandwiches.

Mo Maraqa

​Mo is the Director of Partner Strategy. Mo helps partner groups realize their outreach and engagement goals by incorporating data and technology. Prior to joining the Bluelabs team, Mo was a data and analytics director at several progressive groups, including the Obama 2008 campaign. When he is not at work, you can find Mo helping out at 3rd Pillar, a charity he co-founded, which is dedicated to helping families in Northeast DC mitigate the cost of food, healthcare and education.

Pedro Suarez

​Pedro was born and raised in the good ol’state of Texas where he earned his degree in mathematics and ethnic studies from The University of Texas at Austin. Before joining BlueLabs, he had the opportunity to work in the federal government via a public policy fellowship. In his spare time, he enjoys running, binge-watching Netflix, and outdoor activities. Also, discussing all good things in Texas.

Rachel Gutauskas

Rachel is an Analyst with BlueLabs. She got her start in Democratic politics in 2008 working for Tom Perriello’s Congressional campaign. Rachel earned her degree in political science with a concentration in public policy from The George Washington University. Before coming to BlueLabs, she was an Account Executive at Catalist where she managed the data needs of a wide variety of progressive clients. In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis, going to Nationals games, and cooking for friends and family.

Simon Vance

​Originally from New York City, Simon first became involved in political data while working as a Deputy Data Director for Obama for America in Ohio during the 2012 election. Most recently, he was Data Director for Cory Booker’s successful United States Senate campaign in New Jersey. He enjoys biking around DC and is a long-suffering fan of the New York Knicks and Seattle Mariners.

Susanna Supalla

​Susanna is a Senior Modeling Analyst. Before joining BlueLabs, she served as fundraiser and campaign manager on local, state, and Congressional races in North Carolina and Virginia. Susanna is completing a PhD in political science from the University of Rochester, and in her spare time, she enjoys line dancing, watching Veronica Mars reruns, and eating dessert.

Todd Stewart

​Todd is the Executive Assistant at BlueLabs. At the company, Todd combines his greatest passions: meeting new people and contributing to social good. Educated at the University of Maryland, Todd double majored in Criminal Justice and Government & Politics and played Division I football for the Terrapins. Prior to joining the BlueLabs team, Todd worked with The Brewer Group (a New York based hedge fund), with the McKenna Center, and with several high profile male and female professional athletes as a personal assistant and business consultant. While originally from Washington, Todd is a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan and enjoys spending weekends watching college football and episodes of The West Wing.

Valerie Bradley

​Valerie is a Boston native and recent graduate of Harvard College where she fell in love with Statistics. At Harvard she worked as a Teaching Fellow in a variety of introductory Statistics classes and won a Hoopes Prize for her undergraduate senior thesis in which she redesigned a survey for Harvard University Health Services. Prior to working at BlueLabs she also interned at Novus, a financial portfolio analytics firm. In her spare time she enjoys biking, diving into a good book and spending time with friends and family over yummy food and drinks.

Wilson Gu

​Wilson is a Data Fellow at Blue Labs. He is currently working towards a Master’s in Global Human Development at Georgetown. After working as a field organizer in Florida for President Obama’s 2012 campaign, he moved to Egypt where he studied Arabic, worked as a journalist, taught English, and worked in a human rights NGO. He also spent two months in Lebanon at a primary health care NGO. Wilson graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in International Studies. In his free time, he enjoys playing ultimate Frisbee, reading, and the outdoors.

What We Do

Predictive Modeling

Our highly accurate predictive models are the most powerful analytical tools available for predicting individuals’ opinions, behaviors, and characteristics.

Our experts in statistical modeling and survey methodology create customized predictive models to identify the likelihood that an individual will donate to an organization, need a service, support a candidate, volunteer, and much more. These models help our clients maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their work. With our help, our clients can identify vast pools of underserved targets, tailor messaging to an individual’s priorities, and save resources by selectively engaging those who are most likely to respond in the desired way.

We specialize in persuasion modeling, which identifies individuals who are most likely to change their opinions or behaviors in response to a particular message. Our modeling team is led by Dan Porter and Matt Holleque, respectively the Obama campaign’s director and deputy director of predictive modeling. In 2012, they developed the Obama campaign’s groundbreaking voter persuadability model, which informed nearly all of the campaign’s programs, including paid media, volunteer outreach, and digital strategies.

Experimentally Informed Programs

We conduct randomized controlled experiments that allow our clients to assess the effectiveness of a particular program or message and adjust it in real time.

Many of our clients are leaders within their fields: they want to make sure that their actions yield the best possible outcomes and are willing to challenge conventional practices when they don’t. Our team of experienced scientists provides immediate actionable insight by designing, implementing, and quickly analyzing results from randomized controlled experiments. For instance, a campaign or organization can test its direct mail on a small scale, learn from the test’s outcome, then launch its broader mail program to the best possible universe.

Analytics Infrastructure

We are a leader in data infrastructure solutions. We help organizations easily access and use their data by consolidating internal data streams, integrating internal and external data sources, and building robust and agile platforms that support a variety of organizational and analytics needs.

In an age of rapidly expanding and diversifying data streams, many organizations struggle to build an infrastructure that enables them to fully benefit from their data. BlueLabs is a pioneer in data infrastructure solutions, taking a new, agile approach to analytics and data warehousing. Working with our clients, we are developing a next-generation data platform that empowers our clients to achieve more immediate and successful results.

BlueLabs’ media optimization technology moves beyond traditional demographic-based approaches to advertising, enabling our clients to target their content to particular individuals. By combining predictive modeling with cable set-top box data, we pinpoint your target voters, customers, and so on, identify the shows that they are most likely to watch, and ultimately develop the most cost-effective buying strategy.

Chris Wegrzyn, a BlueLabs co-founder, led the engineering effort behind the original media optimizer used by the Obama campaign in 2012. Our team is continuously improving the technology to expand the power of your advertising budget.

Analytics Consulting

We help organizations leverage data and analytics products by developing action plans and providing ongoing advice.

Many organizations are overwhelmed with data. Their leadership knows the data has value for improving the effectiveness of the organization, but past experience with expensive, time-consuming—and ultimately ineffective—“data warehousing” and “data mining” projects have left a bad taste. We help those leaders identify specific, effective analytics projects, prototype them quickly, and then build internal capacity based on those learnings.

Even the best analytics products are useless unless they are implemented effectively on the ground. We develop action plans with our clients to maximize payoff from our analytics services and to help them incorporate insights from data into organizational strategies.

Our Mission

We help organizations work smarter by leveraging innovative analytics and technology to make data-informed decisions in real-time and in the service of good.

Work smarter.

​Our customized analytics and technology solutions help organizations meet their objectives more efficiently and effectively. We help our clients identify the optimal customers, service beneficiaries, donors, students, or voters, and the best and most cost-effective ways of engaging them.

Get it right.

​As leaders in predictive analytics and data science, we strive for the highest-quality, most accurate, and most user-friendly product possible. Our team of experienced statistical experts and data engineers works closely with our clients to ensure that our products meet their needs and can be easily deployed. Our products undergo rigorous tests prior to delivery, and we use a variety of tools to measure and report their real-world impact.

Innovate.

​Analytics is a fast-moving field and we are eager participants in this explosion of new ideas, new technologies, and new techniques. We are a lab for innovation and view complex problems as opportunities to design cutting-edge solutions. We take a creative and interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving, bringing together teams that include the best statisticians, data scientists, and engineers.

In the service of good.

​Data and analytics are powerful tools for changing the world for the better. We work in partnership with nonprofits, corporations, and political campaigns to improve access to healthcare, increase student retention, protect civil rights, combat global warming, and serve other important goals.

Contact Us

Have a problem you'd like to discuss, or perhaps just want to get to know us better?